What Kind of Flowers Can Live Outside Without Watering?

African daisies grow outside without watering.

Certain kinds of flowers can live outside without supplemental watering when exposed to drought conditions. These flowers grow well in low-maintenance gardens that depend on natural rainfall for moisture. Perennial flowers and shrubs need water the first year after planting to grow a strong extensive root system to survive times when water is not plentiful.

Shrubs

Shrubs produce long lasting color and forms in landscape plantings. “Anthony Waterer” spirea (Spiraea x bumalda) produce masses of late spring and early summer pink flowers in USDA plant hardiness zones 4 through 9. New leaves appear red maturing to green on this 5-foot-tall shrub. Deadhead fading blossoms to encourage the production of more flowers. Glossy abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) covers its branches with fragrant small pale pink flowers from spring until the end of fall. This shrub reaches 3 to 12 feet tall and wide, depending on pruning, in USDA zones 6 through 9. Panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), in USDA plant hardiness zones 4 through 8, reaches 12 to 20 feet tall and wide with large 6- to 15-inch-long greenish-white flower clusters at the end of arching branches. These flowers change to pinkish red before winter when the foliage drops, leaving the dried flower heads on bare branches.

About the Author

Karen Carter spent three years as a technology specialist in the public school system and her writing has appeared in the "Willapa Harbor Herald" and the "Rogue College Byline." She has an Associate of Arts from Rogue Community College with a certificate in computer information systems.